Podcasting Momentum - The Marketing Flywheel for your Businesss

How Podcasting Built Credibility for Darrin Grella’s Real Estate Tech Startup

• Josh Troche - Pedal Stomper Productions • Season 3 • Episode 6

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What happens when a real estate tech startup realizes they have a marketing problem, not a tech one? They launch a real estate podcast but not just to sell. Instead, they build a platform for community building, education, and brand credibility.

In this episode, Josh Troche sits down with Darrin Grella, CEO of OfferIn, to explore the evolution of their podcasting for business journey. From nervous beginnings to a dialed-in podcast structure, Darrin shares how launching an educational podcast helped his team shift their marketing mindset, establish authority with real estate agents, and create a steady stream of long-form content that feeds every part of their startup marketing strategy.

They also dive into how a solid podcast strategy can reach a niche audience, what every podcast host should know about developing strong interview skills, and the real business impact of content creation through podcasting. Darrin shares mistakes made and key podcast lessons learned during the launch, while also explaining why effective real estate marketing is always about delivering value, not just volume.

If you're a real estate agent, marketer, or business owner thinking about launching a podcast, this episode is packed with insights you can use right now.

If you're looking to talk podcasting and get more information on how to make your podcast shine, our 30-minute "no pitch" podcast consultation is right for you!  Click the link to sign up for a time. 
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If you're starting a real estate platform, or if you just want to up your marketing and you're thinking, hey, I want to try a podcast and you haven't the foggiest idea of where to start. This week's guest, Will, will have you take him on his journey of what that look like. And, it's pretty interesting. Stay tuned. Darren. That's that's. You there. And you are in the studio? Yes. Because you were just got done recording the part of the offer in podcast. Right. You are the CEO of offer In. Yes. I'm getting all these questions right. So far. So far, so good. Really? What? I have real estate offer, management platform. That's right. It's unique. I mean, in having you guys do this in the studio and all the research we did with it and stuff like that, it's it's a unique thing. We'll talk a little bit about that. But really, I mean, I'm here to talk podcast. That's right. Understood that. That's what everyone's here to listen to. You started your background's in health care administration. Yep. Seems very similar to having a real estate tax. That's right. Right. Those very, very similar things. When did you think podcast for this tech startup. Yeah. So, it's actually, we are not super at marketing, which is what you need to do to get the word out. I think this is not a technology problem for us and not a software problem, because we believe it's super awesome, but we believe it's a marketing problem. So, the idea to bring value to your audience essentially is that's the goal of what. We're looking to do. It's funny you say that because that Sony I think so many marketing pieces missed that. They just like, shout from the rooftops, hey, this is what we do. Here we are. Yeah. We're wonderful. Before you started this, I'm assuming there were some doubts. I know there were some doubts because we. Had some conversation. Yes. For sure. So. But first off, you're launching a show for a brand new company. I mean, you're not global yet. Like when you sit there, we're going to do a podcast. What do you, what do you think. Yeah. So a lot of it is this is a unique product. So in real estate, offer management systems are rare. They really don't exist throughout the platform of real estate. So we felt there was an educational component that people needed to understand the value of this space. So initially it was like, great, we'll have an educational podcast about offer management. You know, there's only so much you can say. It's like, hey, offers are chaotic user software no longer chaotic. That's about it. Podcast I guess over something like. If we want a half of an episode, then let's do that. But, we love the idea. We feel like there is so much there is. It's a different way of approaching your business. And so it's like we needed to educate folks on that. So getting the word out through a podcast, long form video type podcast was really for us, something that felt super critical. You know, podcasting in general. I'm a podcast geek, so I love them. So for me, I'm already bent towards the idea of doing a podcast like, wow, this could be really fun. Our audience for our software is real estate agents. So the podcast is made for real estate agents, and there really isn't a, a significant number of podcast out there in real estate. There are some for sure. For sure, but, not not a ton. So felt like the space needed something. And then the approach to, what can we do to bring value and build a community of people, of like minded people that want to do great things? Yes. The product itself is actually probably not relevant for a significant chunk of the real estate agents, but the value that we can bring to that audience is. And so it's not just, hey, how do we market to our our ideal customer profile, to that one out of ten people that that would love the product. It's like, no, how do we market to all ten of those people and bring value to all ten of them, even if only one of the ten use the product? So I think a some of it was like, hey, here's our heart, let's give is give the knowledge that we have. In so many of the podcasts that we talk about the the success depends on the mindset of it. And it's that giving mindset that I truly love is when you're there for your audience to give them something, that is when you will get an audience, they're giving you their time. That's right. And as I always like to joke, it's an intimate thing too, because they are literally like many of these people are inserting you in their ears, which sounds really creepy, and it kind of is. But is it is. It is that closeness that helps with that? That's good. Yeah. You mentioned like initially thought, oh we're just going to get on the mics and talk. I, I was upset about that. You put it lightly. And we started it. We started to build a structure to it. Like as you started to do the podcast, you guys are six, eight episodes in. Now I believe so yeah. Eight. Nine maybe. Yeah. What what's been the big surprise for you in terms of like from when you thought, here's what a podcast is to when we started the process and you're like, oh yeah. You. Know it truly. It's the structure behind it, asking the right questions. Because it's not just for me to get up here in front of a microphone and share what it's on my mind. It's really for the audience. Right? So mentally, physically, being here, leading an interview and discussion but also understanding, like what we're trying to do is get the audience to hear something that's they're going to engage with. Right. So I think essentially it was like, great, let's get up there. Like you said, just grab a microphone, start chit chat. You know, it was really intimidating at first. Like when you come in and you're like, whoa, these are microphones. You could hear yourself in these cool little, headphones. And there's the lights. There's there's cameras. Just like a. TV on the wall with a logo and stuff is like, whoa. This is for real. And so feeling the seriousness. And I'm not joking, but also serious, like, you know, the, and then understanding that the way you ask questions for an audience to see something as, binge worthy. Right. It's like, I want to I want to be able to have a podcast that brings so much value that I want to watch another episode. Yep. Right. So and, I would say the second thing is, just, what I really love about it is learning and growing as an individual and being, able to say, like, hey, I can get better at this. And I, I think. Of in my mind, you know, our first couple episodes, you're like, hey, good job. And, that's like a four. Out of a ten. Well, well, I thought it was a ten. Ben would push me on that. It'd be like, rate it from 1 to 10. And he's like, be honest. And I'm like, yeah, do you really want that? Right? Hey, I thought you'd. Just come in here and be good. All it is, is talking. I thought it was ten out of ten, but there's so much more to it. And it's been so fun to like, learn the skill of podcasting. Sure. It's to me is like the last episode you just recorded that the questions were sharp and pointed and stuff like that. And to me it's, it's the benefit to the you end of the audience that you're going to get from that. But the, the other thing that I find that's interesting and one of the things that I like about the podcast is like, you work, it's Ben, Ben and Kevin in here with you. You're typically the host. They're on like, we'll call on the panel or the co-hosts, but you're the driver, you're in the driver's seat. You tell them when to shut up. You tell them when to talk. To me, I've always found that I feel closer to the people after I've asked. Or you're in the office with them all the time. Sure. But when you ask directed questions, you're like, oh, that was different. That's not what I expected them to say. Yep. Yeah. Some of that has been super fun. Yeah for sure. Yeah. You work with these guys all the time, but you still have the chance to learn from them. And that to me is kind of cool. The business impact. You guys are just starting here. Yep. This is we're we're not Joe Rogan numbers yet. We are just the decimal point is in a very, very. Different, different place. Yeah. You've mentioned that it's been fun. Have you seen another impact? Have you felt another impact from the podcasting with it? Yeah. So, it does bring value, and credibility. Oh, sure. Yeah. Because, that's something that, you know, credible and building that trust with your audience. If you're doing it, it's like, oh, this is legit, right? You know, like everything for us being a startup business and having just under 500, you know, customers, at this point, is really, really good progress. I mean, officially, it's been on the market a year. You know, the podcast is something that for us, it's been that credibility factor. Sure. And when you're inviting people, like connecting with people, we're going to have a bunch of new guests come on the podcast, which is fun and exciting. It's like, we are not the heroes, they are the hero, and we're guiding them through this journey. I like that. And so that's been something that like has been the shift. You've mentioned Joe Rogan. I was thinking about this like one of the the things that I've enjoyed. Another one of the things I've enjoyed is learning as a person how to lead a podcast or building out these skills. And so asking the right questions is actually important. It's really important to get the right information out. And if I'm able to ask the right question, then you're going to get a better response, which then generates, you know, hopefully a better listening experience. Joe Rogan is an expert at asking the right questions. And, so, you know, that's a skill I am still learning. And, I feel getting better with each, each podcast. Right, right. I'm getting better with each one. Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. No, seriously. You are. It's been, it's been fun to watch because we get some hosts that are just come in and, like, I'm just going to do the thing. Yeah. They come in as a pro, and they still leave as the same amateur they came in as. Yeah. Yeah. Whereas there's that constant learning. I also found it interesting. You said you have listened to a few of them, correct? Yes. Your own. Yep. Yep. It's something that I always recommend because you go back and you listen and you're like, oh, I do the annoying thing. I found what I, what my annoyances are and what I do when I go back and listen to it, when I'm like, dude, stop doing that. It's tough. Yeah, it's really tough. It's brutal. It's absolutely. Brutal to do what is like a lesson or what's what's the big lesson that you've pulled from, like from the podcast itself is is there a point that, like you've said, that be it directly related to the podcast or a life lesson that you've pulled out from being in the studio or the conversations with Ben and Kevin because they're a couple of lively guys and they they work very differently. Super. Different. I mean. One's very I mean, I would describe Kevin as when he gives you an answer, it is. He answer. It straight there. Yeah. Ben thinks about how he thinks out loud, how to get to his answer. Both of them are equally brilliant. It's in different ways. What's is there something that you've pulled from managing that type of interaction? Truly, I just love moderating. I love, I just I think that's the thing. I didn't know that I would like it. I know that may sound just really, but. That it's a skill. Yeah, but. Is this something that I actually think I really like? It is some of the most fun, you know, we come in once a month, about it. Yeah. And record for a couple hours and have content for that months, maybe a couple months. So the goal is to try to, you know, be in the studio to record content for the next little while. Right? It is, some of the the most fun we have for the entire month is being able to come in and do the podcast. I don't know what it is. I don't it's just there's something I can connect with that it's on a personal level that it's just like, this is really fun. So I don't know if I answer your question appropriately, but like a life lesson, like, I really like it. There's there's ways to have fun with it. To me that shows through in like your personality online, when someone goes and looks at it, you're not just sitting here like, damn it, how much longer do I have to do this for? Yeah. Yeah. Looking back, is there a mistake that you're like, oh yeah. No, we we should not do that again. Oh, I think, me as a moderator, the mistakes tend to come as in the questions I ask. They're not as direct as they need to be. You know, we're we're learning. Yeah. It's management. Yeah, yeah. Open ended questions versus that. I'm, And I see my style. What works and just a human human level is not the same skill set that needs to happen in the studio. So that's where where I'm learning and I, you know, being a lifelong learner, I love to learn. I love to continue to consume information. You know, this is actually really fun for me because it's like I'm learning a new skill. Baked new skill. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So this is one of them. This is the big one for me because I'm really curious about this. The future of offer in and the podcast. I mean when, when we set this up we said okay we're looking at six months of doing this. We're going to lay out some of this content. Yeah. What are your some of your thoughts in terms of the future of offer in, in terms of like obviously get more get more people signed up? Yep. Podcast wise, I mean, I know there's new guests. Expand on that. What are some of the things we're looking forward to? Yeah, I mentioned earlier, a little bit of the, hero versus guide concept. And, to really celebrate the heroes out there and be more pro real estate. Content, not necessarily make it all about offering. Yep. But, you know, like to bring value to the real estate audience. It's a super hard working audience. These people are, undervalued. You see, online, they're getting beat up. Oh, they're paid too much. The, you know, the average real estate agent, you know, here in Ohio makes between 85 to $90,000 good living, but you're not breaking that, that 100 K threshold. And, you know, college grads come out and some of those are making comparable numbers. Real estate agents working day night weekends all the time. Holidays. Yes. And it's like I actually talked to a guy, two weeks ago that had two offers on Christmas morning. And it's like, you know, here is the kind of a celebrate a national holiday regardless of your religious preference. But like, here's a guy that that was receiving offers on Christmas morning. You know, another agent told me last week he got a text from a client at five 13in the morning, and it's like, okay, this is a real estate agent. If it was running a business, like, would you, would you expect your attorney to like, you know, would you email them that or would you email like. Or. Whatever else? Right. It's like people typically have business hours for a reason. Real estate agents don't like these are super hardworking people dedicated, very relational. So I think it continue to bring a value to that audience. You know, we're going to rebrand the moon with offer in on it. I don't know if you heard that, but, Elon Musk is talking to us about taking off rent to the moon, which, would be great. I'm just kidding, by the way, that's. The goal for the future. You asked. But as we continue to grow and expand and bring value to this. Audience, it. Is a it is an. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. So you know that that is the goal. Podcasting, I think, is a critical part of that because as content generating, we need short term form content, long form content. And this is a way to connect with an audience for educational purposes. That is that is the end goal of this podcast. Continue to to help us create content for that audience. It's funny because one of the things that I like is you guys are very much set up is this is not the I mean, I feel like we get some podcasters that look at podcasting as the marketing channel. You guys realize this is the support to other efforts that are going on and that it gives you that content that makes sure that you guys are the experts. You guys are the you're the heroes. Yeah. But it is not the one that is going to grab you 10 million users. No. Let's think about how people consume information. Right? You know, like so many different channels, I might like Instagram, my wife or, excuse me, LinkedIn. My wife might like Instagram, other people might like Facebook. Some people like listen to podcast on, you know, their devices, whatever they're going to download on a podcast app or whatever Spotify, or they might watch it on YouTube. You know, it's all like people are different. So you have to be on all of these forms of content. You know, this helps with SEO, which is supposedly dying and also supposedly not dying. I don't know, it depends on who you talk to. And then the geo part with, you know, generated, optimization from, from AI and how that's moving and changing. I think the goal is and this is me, my opinion, is to get as much content out in the marketplaces in all the possible channels, and that's what's really going to connect to. So this I don't see as optional. This is not something that is a one stop shop. This is part of a larger integration of our marketing strategy to capture all the audience that's available in that space. So, podcasting is the most fun. I actually don't enjoy creating content for social channels. I don't, this is the easy button for me. This is the fun one. Yeah, yeah. So, Yeah, that's that's, you know, that's, our our approach and strategy. And so the big question that I was like to cap things off with, if you could give one piece of advice to business owner or CEO, marketer that is thinking, should I start a podcast, shouldn't I? What would that piece of advice be? Well, do a podcast about that. So. So that would be the truly, I think. Why would you tell them? Yeah, I don't get me wrong, I absolutely love that advice. I think that is the best advice on the planet. Thank you. I'll give it the $10 later is, six. I thought it was 20. 20. It is. It's, Wait, wait a bargain. Yeah. You going to make me make me this jerk. On the air? No. What? Why do you feel it is important? And a key it is. So for me, content creation. What we've been able to do from the podcast is not necessarily super pumped about, you know, the people watching and listening to the podcast. But it's actually the content that's created how we can multi use it across multiple channels. So if, if a, you know, business owner is not creating content and pushing it out to all the channels, they will lose. Sure. You know who I is not coming I is here. Yeah. And so I is also changing the game. Not just the way things are done today, but the way they're going to be done in the future. And they're going to continue to, they as this mysterious AI they but they, are going to I is going to continue to, to capture market share over time. And content has to live everywhere. And that's where, you know, AI is actually going to feed people. That's where that's consumers are going to AI to capture information. Less on that, less on the search side, more on the side. So as they continue to do that, if you're not creating content, that's where that's when and how you lose. So, to business owners, the podcast helps generate that, you know, think about your chatting for an hour, okay? It's not just for one piece of content. You're going to get 20, 30 pieces of content out of that one hour conversation, or if it's less, if it's 20 minutes, you capture, you know, three or 4 or 5 things. So you're that's the idea is that in my head and I believe, correct. So yeah. So, the math. Maths. Yeah. As the teenagers would say. Yeah. So you're generating content enough to be able to push out that helps you create, and compete in that place on a, on a at a time efficiency and energy efficiency perspective. Oh, look at that. You even got efficient on us. Yeah I love that word. Yeah. That's well especially as we we're not getting younger. No. Oh come on we're trying. Yeah we're trying. Yeah I yeah. After some of the stuff I like I, I always say I've spent 47 years treating my body like a rental car. It's and you know. I had a, a. Previous boss for many, many, many years that would say, you never wash a rental car. And if you think about it like you take care of things you own. Yep. But if you rent it, it's like, right. Why would I wash a rental car? It's a rental. So you. Can trash in on yourself. Like a 40%. Maybe a little bit. Oh, I doubt that. That's I doubt that. Well thank you. I really appreciate the time today. I'm sure the audience is going to, appreciate the insights. For any realtors that we had, like listening. Go check out the offering platform. It's cool as I've gotten to know these guys and what they are doing with it. It's unique and it really does solve a problem. And I'm not just saying this because he's sitting across the table from me. I would say slide. That 20 bucks right there. Right, right, right, right. I will be right back with our summary and we will go from there. So Darren's left. He's gone. He's out of the studio. I kicked him out here before. I wanted to do the summary, but, if he was in. Plus, he had some things to do. But if he was still sitting here, I would still be saying the same things. Is the big thing that I love about what offer in is doing is they're giving that value. Initially, when they came to me and we started talking about doing the podcast, we looked at a number of different ways to do it, and I actually presented them with a list of here's 17 podcast, here's how to do them, etc., etc., etc., etc. and all of it was educational still, but it was all geared towards like offer in their platform was kind of the answer to every question that was going to be presented. They've since pivoted in just a few episodes to realize that, hey, we just need to help people once again, I've been preaching this for all of these. The everyone that's doing a podcast from a giving standpoint is seeing that success. And to me, that's why the same thing, why we're doing this is I want to take lessons from other podcasters and not only learn them for myself, but obviously transfer those lessons to you to, to, to show like, hey, look, here's some of the ins, outs and rights and wrongs and here's the things that maybe it's a mistake that someone's made that they can prevent you from making. Which to me is just that that's the greatest gift ever. But once again, they're they're this place of education, this place of giving, knowing that they're going to build this following. Now, what's interesting is, is we had a conversation when they first were talking about doing this, about the follower count and things of that nature. They are like, we want to talk to everyone and they still have a little bit of that. Whereas you mentioned look, instead of talking to the one client, we want to talk to the ten people because we want to help the ten people. And we realize that one person will come along. I like that philosophy. It's different than what I normally look at. It's different than what I normally do. I typically try and be very targeted in who we're talking to. We're trying to talk to for us, we're trying to talk to podcasters. I realize exactly who my audience is and what age range it is, whether they're male or female. All those things, they're being more general about it. But I think it's because of the way they're delivering their message and the the honesty and earnest behind it is why they're starting to see some success with it. The other thing that I that I truly love, and with Darren being the the learner that he is, is he's come a long way and even before we hit record on the very first episode, Darren put in a ton of work. The fact that he looks at this as something that, hey, I want to get better. It's a ton of fun and I want to get better at it. To him, it's I mean, I know he bicycles all the time. We've had numerous biking, biking things, conversations. It's like a sport to him to a certain extent. It's, hey, we went out, we did good, but we can always do better. So I want to practice. I want to research. I want to take that up to that that next level. And to me, that's truly one of the reasons why I enjoy working with him and Ben and Kevin and everyone else. But to me, it shows that you can make your podcast better and you should make your podcast better. It's taking the time to go back. It's listening to episodes, it's looking at other episodes. It's modeling your information after some other people's. How do they approach this? What can I use from their approach that I can bring over into my podcast? What are some things that I can add to this? To me, those are all like keys to making sure that your podcast gets better with time. We've all seen those podcast where there's a couple of yours to it and you realize, like there's 70 or 80 episodes in and the 80th episode, it may look a little different, but it doesn't really sound any different than the first episode. To me, those are the ones where you're kind of like, they enjoy it. They may not want to get all that better at it. They may not want to get any better at it. That's okay. It's okay to be that way. But if you truly want your business to move forward, your marketing to move forward, your your culture to move forward, any one of those, it's just like anything else, it's taking that time, going back, listening to your podcast and saying, what do I do that screws me up to me? I'm going to be flat honest with it. I caught myself earlier today. I still am saying far too many ums now you're going to hear them. I get it, but it's something that I'm working on and it's something that I'm looking at all the time. How can I get better? With that being said, if you're curious as to how you can get better, let's talk. Let's do our 30 minute no pitch podcast consultation. There's no pitch. I am 100% here to help. Whatever. Podcast podcasting. Wow, I guess I need to take a speech class. Whatever podcasting questions you have, we're going to look at cameras. We're going to look at all those things, talk about microphones. Whatever questions you have, we're gonna answer the best we can. With that being said, the links in the the links are going to be in the show notes for you. Do me a favor. Take care of yourself. You can take care of someone else also. I will see you very, very soon.

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Josh Troche

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